West Hartford Firefighter Contract Negotiations To Move Into Arbitration

WEST HARTFORD — After more than a year of formal and informal contract negotiations, the town and the firefighters union have decided to go into arbitration, according to Town Manager Ronald Van Winkle.

The two groups felt they wouldn't come to an agreement with a mediator and decided to go right to arbitration, Van Winkle said. The firefighters' contracts expired June 30, 2012.

Town officials said they were unhappy that the parties couldn't reach an agreement.

"It's disappointing," said Rick Ledwith, head of employee services for the town. "We invested a lot of time addressing significant issues that we felt were important to us and our community."

Mayor Scott Slifka said he and the other members of the town council are "frustrated" with what he described as a "willful disregard to taxpayers" by the union.

"We think they're doing a very good job, we just want to make the whole thing affordable and make more sense," he said. "Everybody knows this has to be fixed, they know what the challenges are and what needs to be done and the other unions have helped us, one has not."

Kerry Warren, president of the West Hartford Firefighters Association, called Slifka's comments "unfortunate."

"As long as I have been there, the local has strived to reach a contract that's good for all parties involved," he said. "We're continuing to do that. The arbitration process is simply a step toward ratification."

A major sticking point is the pension plan, according to Van Winkle. The town is seeking a contract that reduces the town's expenses for retirement pay.

Warren declined to comment on the specifics of the negotiations, saying that the union agreed not to discuss them outside the arbitration process.

Under the most recent contract, firefighters in town earn 2.5 percent of their pay times the number of years they worked, Van Winkle said. If a firefighter works the required 20 years, he will get 50 percent of his final pay every year from retirement until death.

The firefighters can also "spike" their pension by working overtime in the three years before they retire, Van Winkle said.

"That is a generous benefit," he said. "It is not uncommon in public safety … it is much larger than what a non-public safety employee would get."

Though recent contract agreements have limited the total retirement benefit – including overtime -- to 80 percent of base pay, Van Winkle said, the pension period is much longer than it is for non-public safety workers.

"It just isn't a system that's working anymore," Van Winkle said.

Public safety employees comprise 60 percent of the town's workforce, and their benefits are "really the expensive piece" of the town's pension spending "that we need to get under control," Van Winkle said.

As of a June 30, 2012, actuarial valuation, the town's pension plan was 44.2 percent funded, despite the town contributing millions each year to close the hole.

Other recently ratified contracts, like those of the school secretaries and paraprofessional unions, are switching over to "hybrid" plans that reduce the town's responsibility and allow employees to pay into defined contribution plans. The firefighters union turned down such a plan, Van Winkle said.

"We have to deal with this issue in some way; we're going to arbitration to resolve it," he said. "It is the driving issue in our efforts."

Warren said the union is balancing the interests of town spending and public safety in the negotiations.

"All along, we have worked with the town through collective bargaining to reach agreements that don't sacrifice the public safety, but rather maintain it, while taking into consideration the costs involved with providing those services," Warren said. "Our record stands on its own."